I’ve been cooking corned beef and cabbage for a lot of years. I used to always put carrots in the pot. Lately, I don’t. (Potatoes always go in, because the time I didn’t it was much too salty. Potatoes absorb the excess salt.)
In my experience, they do. Perhaps it has been disproven, but I have found that given a finite amount of salt, some portion of it will season the potatoes.
Potatoes are bland enough that they make you want the excess salt.
I add a ton of carrots because there aren’t many things better then carrots mashed up with potatoes, butter and a little of the juice poured over the top.
I say no to the carrots, but I hate, hate, HATE cooked carrots. I can eat them raw, but cooked, and they are just terrible. My mother would put them in her Irish stew, and I’d torment over having to eat them. The only why I could get through dinner was to mash them up with some potatoes to hide the taste/texture.
Yes, of course carrots. It’s a sad plate if it’s just corned beef with cabbage and potatoes. The carrots add a nice colorful pop to it and a contrasting sweet flavor. Feel free to add other root veggies, but carrots are absolutely required for me.
I used to simmer the cabbage, too. That’s how Mom made it when I was a kid.l so I did the same…until I tried it roasted with garlic, olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar. I was totally converted with one bite.
Speaking of seasonal mash recipes, who else wants colcannon?
Definitely carrots. Otherwise, it’s not “Irish*.” It took me almost 40 years to realize that the add ons are the colors of the Irish Flag. Green (cabbage), white (potatoes), and orange (carrots.)
*I know corned beef and cabbage isn’t really Irish.